News in Brief

Utah State Chief Plans to Step Down

The Utah state schools chief has announced that he will resign from
his job for health reasons.

Steven O. Laing, 53, plans to leave his post as state superintendent of
public instruction to have a double hip replacement in the next few
months. He expects to spend significant time recovering.

Mr. Laing, who has been the state superintendent since December
1998, said in a statement that he plans to take a job with Utah State
University in the continuing education department, beginning this
coming fall.

The Utah state board of education announced it would immediately
begin a search for a new superintendent. In the meantime, Patrick
Ogden, the associate superintendent for data and business services, was
named interim superintendent, starting April 1.

During his tenure as state chief, Mr. Laing has overseen the
implementation of the Utah Performance Assessment System for Students
and worked on implementing the federal No Child Left Behind Act. He
also oversaw the establishment of the first charter schools in the
state, which now has 19 such schools, with 3,253 students.

—Michelle R. Davis

Iowa Hopes to Launch Achievement-Gap Project

The Hawkeye State is poised to take a strategic
approach—starting with a pilot district—to closing the
achievement gap that finds African-American students lagging behind
their white classmates academically.

A task force convened by Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack last year examined
the challenges in improving African-American student achievement in the
10,450-student Waterloo school district. The 27-member task force
included teachers, school administrators, community members, and
business leaders.

The panel, which released its report earlier this month, recommends
paying incentives to highly skilled teachers and administrators to work
at schools enrolling large numbers of low- performing students. The
group also calls for recruiting more African-American teachers, along
with a renewed commitment to cultural-competency training for current
staff members.

Three Waterloo schools, enrolling about 800 black students, would
participate in the pilot program starting in the fall. The Democratic
governor set aside $550,000 for the $1.3 million program in his
proposed fiscal 2005 budget. The district would have to pick up the
remaining $750,000 tab.

—Karla Scoon Reid

Indiana State Board Pushes For Changes in Federal Law

The Indiana state board of education has joined a statewide call for
changes in the school accountability measures in the federal No Child
Left Behind Act.

By a 6-5 vote on March 4, the board opted to sign a letter drafted
by a coalition of education groups urging Indiana state lawmakers to
press for the revisions. The group asks that the law be revised to jibe
better with Indiana's own methods for gauging school progress, which
they say do more than federal rules to stress student improvement.

The communication also urges amendments to allow the progress of
"cognitively impaired" students to be determined using special tests
and guidelines. At the same time, it calls on the legislature to expand
teacher training and early-learning opportunities for children, such as
full-day kindergarten.

"While recognizing the financial constraints faced by the
[legislature]," the letter says, "we are unable to separate NCLB goals
and the effort required to achieve those goals."

Policymakers in a number of other states in recent weeks have voiced
concerns about the No Child Left Behind Act and what they see as
insufficient funding to implement it. ("Debate Grows on True Costs of
School Law," Feb. 4, 2004.)

—Jeff Archer

Minn. Officials Find Glitch In Gauging Schools' Progress

Minnesota education officials have announced that state testing
procedures used to track "adequate yearly progress" by schools under
the federal No Child Left Behind Act have led to inflated school
ratings.

Commissioner of Education Cheri Pierson Yecke said last week that
while a recent review found no problems in how the 2003 Minnesota
Comprehensive Assessments were scored, changes need to be made in how
the scores are interpreted.

It turns out that the number of questions a student needed to answer
correctly to make sufficient progress on last spring's exams "was set
prematurely," before the state's academic standards were made final, a
letter from the state education department explained. As a result, the
current results for reading in grades 3 and 5 appear to be inflated by
about 6 percent, and the mathematics scores are inflated by about 3
percent, according to state data.

State officials are recalculating the grade 3 and 5 test results to
get the correct baseline for measuring growth from 2003 to 2004.

"I want to emphasize that our tests and test questions are perfectly
sound," Ms. Yecke said in a statement.

—Robert C. Johnston

La. Districts Make Offer In School Facilities Lawsuit

A group of Louisiana districts suing the state school board for
school construction aid has submitted a settlement offer that envisions
eventual state spending of an additional $171 million a year.

Carey T. Jones, a lawyer representing the eight school systems
involved in the lawsuit, said some of the schools are in such disrepair
that "if these buildings were anything other than schools, they would
be condemned."

Two related lawsuits Mr. Jones filed in state court in Baton Rouge
last December contend the state board of education must include
facilities costs in its Minimum Foundation Program, the main source of
state aid for schools.

"We contend that it's an essential component of any minimum
program," he said.

The settlement total, which is based on $300 per student, would be
phased in over four years. The lawsuit would not actually compel the
state to spend the additional money. That's up to the legislature. But
it seeks to require the state board, when it proposes its annual
formula plan to lawmakers, to factor in those costs. Currently, the
formula is funded at about $2.5 billion.

Michael H. Rubin, a lawyer for the state board, said, "The board
intends to vigorously defend its position, and believes the lawsuit has
no merit."

—Erik W. Robelen

Budget Problems May Alter Calif. Higher Ed. Admissions

Because of state budget constraints, the University of California
and California State University systems will for the first time be able
to reject some qualified applicants from getting into their campuses,
school officials say.

The UC system, which has eight undergraduate campuses, is expected
to turn away 3,200 students during the 2004-05 academic year, if the
budget proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is adopted by the
legislature.

The CSU system, which has 23 undergraduate schools, would have to
cut enrollment by at least 3,000 students during the fall, and by an
estimated 23,000 undergraduates and graduates during the fall, spring,
and summer enrollment periods, under the proposed budget, CSU
spokeswoman Colleen Bentley-Adler said. Previously, California
applicants were guaranteed a spot on at least one of the campuses of UC
or CSU, if they met the different academic requirements of those
systems.

Officials from both systems say they are likely to redirect students
to community colleges for their first two years, and then have them
transfer to one of their four-year campuses as juniors.

Gov. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has proposed making the community
college tuition free for students who agree to take that path.
California faces an estimated $15 billion deficit out of a general fund
of roughly $78 billion.

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